Ecclesiastes 2
1 I said
in my heart,
"Come now,
I will test you with pleasure;
enjoy yourself."
But behold,
this also was vanity.
2I said of laughter,
"It is mad,"
and of pleasure,
"What use is it?"
3I searched
with my heart
how
to cheer my body
with wine
--my heart still guiding me
with wisdom--
and how to
lay hold
on folly,
till I might see
what was good
for the children
of man to do
under heaven during the few days
of their life.
4I made
great works.
I built houses
and planted vineyards
for myself.
5I made myself
gardens and
parks,
and planted in them
all kinds of fruit trees.
6I made myself pools
from which to water
the forest of
growing trees.
7I bought
male and female
slaves,
and had slaves
who were born
in my house.
I had also
great possessions
of herds and flocks,
more than any
who had been before me
in Jerusalem.
8I also gathered
for myself silver
and gold and
the treasure
of kings and provinces.
I got singers,
both men and women,
and many
concubines,
[a]
the delight
of the children of man.
9So
I became great
and surpassed
all
who were before me
in Jerusalem.
Also my wisdom
remained with me.
10And
whatever my eyes desired
I did not keep
from them.
I kept my heart
from no pleasure,
for my heart found pleasure
in all
my toil,
and this was my reward
for all my toil.
11Then I considered
all that my hands had done
and the toil
I had expended in doing it,
and behold,
all was vanity
and a striving
after wind,
and there was nothing
to be gained
under the sun.
12So I turned
to consider wisdom and
madness and folly.
For what can the man do
who comes after the king?
Only what has already been
done.
13Then I saw
that there is more
gain
in wisdom than in folly,
as there is
more gain in light
than in darkness.
14The wise person
has his eyes in his
head,
but the fool
walks in darkness.
And yet I
perceived
that the same event
happens to all of them.
15Then I said
in my heart,
"What happens to the fool
will happen to me also.
Why then
have I been
so very wise?"
And I said
in my heart
that this also is vanity.
16For of the wise
as of the fool
there is
no enduring
remembrance,
seeing that
in the days
to come
all will have
been long forgotten.
How the wise
dies just like the fool!
17So
I hated life,
because what is done
under the sun
was
grievous to me,
for all is vanity
and a striving after wind.
18I hated
all my toil
in which I toil
under the sun,
seeing that
I must leave it
to
the man
who will come
after me,
19and who
knows whether
he will be wise
or a fool?
Yet he will be master
of all for which
I toiled and used
my wisdom under the sun.
This also is vanity.
20So I turned about
and gave my heart
up to despair
over all the toil
of my labors
under the sun,
21because sometimes a person
who has toiled with wisdom
and knowledge
and skill
must leave everything
to be enjoyed by someone
who did not toil for it.
This also
is vanity and a great evil.
22What has a man
from all the toil
and striving of heart
with which he toils
beneath the sun?
23For all his days
are full of sorrow,
and his work is a
vexation.
Even in the night
his heart
does not rest.
This also is vanity.
24There is nothing better
for a person
than that he should eat
and drink and
find enjoyment
[b]
in his toil.
This also,
I saw,
is from the hand of God,
25for apart from him[c]
who can eat
or who can
have enjoyment?
26For to the one
who pleases him
God has given wisdom and
knowledge and joy,
but to the sinner
he has given the business
of gathering and
collecting,
only to give
to one
who pleases God.
This also is vanity and
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